Leaked document: Bath Royal United Hospital looking at ways to cut nurses' pay

Bath's Royal United Hospital is putting £10,000 of taxpayers' money into a fund to hire a director to find ways of cutting nurses' pay, overtime and annual leave, according to a leaked document.

The RUH is among 19 hospitals and health trusts said to have signed up to a controversial new group called the South West Pay Terms and Conditions Consortium.

A document setting out the structure and aims of the pay consortium, which is understood to have been set up to negotiate down the pay and conditions of workers in the new-look National Health Service, was yesterday leaked by furious union leaders.

The unions described the PTC Consortium as having a potentially "devastating impact" on hospital staff across the region, and said it was ‘a scandal’ that they were each contributing £10,000 from their own hospital budgets to pay a director and other staff.

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Hospitals named in the leaked document include the Royal United Hospital, Bristol's University Hospitals and hospitals in Taunton, Yeovil, Swindon, Gloucester and Cheltenham, and health trusts covering much of the region.

The document outlines how the consortium would be looking to use flexibility introduced in the Government’s NHS reforms to renegotiate pay and conditions of NHS staff.

Part of the NHS reforms give health trusts and hospital bosses greater power and flexibility to over-ride any national pay deals.

The internal document even warns that there could be a backlash to their plans from staff and patients.

“Implementing potentially significant changes to the terms and conditions of employment of staff is not without risk, in terms of legal challenge, industrial relations unrest, impact upon staff morale and engagement and reputation management,” the leaked report warned.

“Such changes are likely to resonate in the local, regional and national media, particularly if the South West is one of the first regions to take such action,” it added.

The leaked document outlines a variety of ‘schemes’ to review or reduce staffing costs - by paying nurses and staff less for working more hours, or cutting their holiday entitlement. Joanne Kaye, Unison’s regional secretary, said the union had leaked the document because health bosses had denied their plans to individual workers.

“These proposals could have devastating implications for the South West and healthcare services,” she said.

“If NHS staff earn less here than in other parts of the country where costs of living are much lower, this could lead to qualified staff leaving in droves. Other parts of the proposals are equally dangerous – for example, if night workers see their pay cut when they are off sick, this will only lead to staff coming into work when they are unfit, raising huge cross-infection issues.”

Union leaders have already called for action to increase the pressures for key health workers in the West – because hospital staff don’t get the same boosts to their pay as colleagues in London and the Home Counties do, even though the cost of living in the rural West is often just as high.

Our members are already struggling to make ends meet and it is a scandal that a group of senior managers at Trust level are using taxpayers money to appoint a Director to examine how pay can be driven down further,” she added.

A spokeswoman for the consortium said the working group had not yet met and no decisions had been made on any proposals that may subsequently be explored further.

The group will work closely with trade unions and staff-side representatives and seek their involvement on any proposals that are developed, she added.

Chris Bown, Chief Executive of Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, will chair the group. “The paybill forms the largest portion of our annual expenditure and as such, it is right that we look at how we are spending that money,” he said.

Comments

And I have heard that the RUH recruited some Nurses from Portugal. Is that because they are expecting exciting RUH nurses to leave because they can not afford to live and pay their mortgages after having their pay cut by 15%? How about appreciating the existing staff! They freeze the nurses pay, cut money here and there but not once we hear that they cut the pay of the management! The people that actually got the NHS into debt!

I like your contribution here city_ferret. I feel your experiences aren't unique and there are many others, at or having left the RUH, who might regale us with more examples, of middle management 'backs being protected' and sc*m rising to the top, to go with the one reported above.

It really isn't that surprising of the RUH. I wouldn't trust the management to watch a kettle - they'd probably outsource that to a consulting company too. Having worked there for nearly twenty years (and now thankfully left) it was apparent how with all manner of nature, the sc*m rises to the top pretty quickly. I suspect that those in middle management and above are now busy planning how they can protect their own backs whilst those at the sharp end - not just nurses - will be the victims. Your other correspondent mentioned admin staff. Perhaps a little unfair. Although the RUH is pretty adept at making up some great job titles - ask the head of patient experience for example - it's the 'mickey mouse' departments full of managers-we-don't-know-what-to-do-with or managers-we-can't-rid-ourselves-of that would prove the best efficiency cuts. It's pretty good that they have now been caught with their pants down. Nice to know the staff are still being appreciated.

Welcome to the private sector. I worked for a company once that wasn't doing very well. We didn't win many contracts 'cos we were poorly managed and inefficient. So they brought in a middle manager to sort it out. He spent all his time in middle-management meetings and nothing much happened, so another middle manager was brought in to sort it out. This one thought he could increase efficiency by clamping down on the workers, with the result that all the good ones left. When that happened, we couldn't even service the contracts we already had. So they brought in another middle manager to sort it out.
No prizes for guessing what happened to that company.

About time too, it's a disgrace the way that these doctors and nurses fleece the health budget. Apart from dedication, commitment, care and potentially life-saving skills what do they offer? Cut their pay I say and spend the money on important things like Executive pay,fact-finding missions to sunny climes and private healthcare profits.

When the NHS stop spending our money paying for Abortions and making the people who should be into caring have to be into killing, things might improve in all respects.
£1 Million a week? No wonder it is almost bankrupt, it certainly is morally bankrupt.
http://tinyurl.com/85as6ne

mcupis says: "The problem is that the top end management control the budget and they won't be the turkeys that vote for Christmas. That's why we need the reform programme, to root out the dead wood and protect the front line."
I agree totally. But how will it work?
Forgive me if I'm wrong or stupid, isn't this RUH proposal to spend £10,000 as reported in... "The document outlines how the consortium would be looking to use flexibility introduced in the Government's NHS reforms to renegotiate pay and conditions of NHS staff".... a case of the turkeys taking control of Christmas?
The very people the reforms are meant to weed out appear to be using the same reforms (and public funding) to transplant the targets onto those at the front line who actually deserve better pay, not have it removed altogether.

I can only agree with many of the previous comments that this is disgraceful and just, frankly, wrong! The front-line nurses & doctors, on the whole, do a very good job in often difficult circumstances & deserve to paid a fair wage in return. The support/admin staff need to be in place to ensure that the medical staff can perform efficiently & also deserve a fair wage for this.
What appears to be going on here is a case of cut staff costs to a minimum to increase profits of the health trusts & probably the PFIs set-up by previous Governments & continued/increased by the current one.
Whilst there are inefficiencies in all systems, it does merit the consideration of returning to the Health Boards of previous years if they could be proved to be more efficient & cheaper.
In short, stop wasting money on the top-level (and top-heavy) management and put hat funding into the front line medical & support staff.